This part of the Stars' recent play has pleased coach Jim Montgomery, and it was on full display against the Capitals

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Dallas Stars center Tyler Pitlick, right, celebrates his goal with left wing Blake Comeau (15) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Listen to Stars coach Jim Montgomery enough, and the two tenets of his style of play become abundantly clear: his team needs to pressure the puck, and his team needs to possess the puck. Through 13 games, Montgomery is pleased with part of that equation.

The Stars won their third straight game on Saturday night, beating the Capitals 4-3 in overtime, allowing Montgomery to reflect on his team 13 games into the season.

"This is the effort we were looking for and the puck pressure we were looking for," Montgomery said. "Our puck possession game is still not where it needs to be, but you got to get good at defending before you can get good at going on offense."

All four of Dallas' goals came on Washington turnovers on Saturday night, including three in the offensive zone.

Gemel Smith tipped an errant Washington pass into the neutral zone, spring Jason Spezza for a breakaway that he finished between Braden Holtby's legs. Tyler Pitlick tracked a dump-in, disrupted Holtby's clearing attempt and buried a shot just above the goalline. Valeri Nichushkin delivered a big hit behind the Washington net in the second period, forcing a turnover and eventually setting up Jamie Benn's easy finish.

And Jason Dickinson's overtime winner came when he collected a loose puck in the neutral zone and managed to beat Holtby with a deflected wrister.

When Montgomery's teams are playing well, it starts with pressuring the puck all over the ice, but particularly in the offensive zone.

"It is effort, but it's understanding your angle and it's understanding where the next guy should be going before the puck goes there," Montgomery said. "If the first guy pressures well and takes a good angle, it kind of limits the offensive player's options. It's either going up the wall or through the middle. We like if it goes through the middle because we should have layers there denying those plays."

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Montgomery said during Thursday's win in Toronto, he recognized that the Stars' puck pressure was good. He noticed that his team was able to break pucks out easier because they pressured properly at the blue line.

As far as possession goes, the Stars have been one of the worst teams in the league, according to advanced statistics. At 5-on-5, the team has been responsible for just 46.9 percent of shot attempts, the sixth-smallest share in the league. The Stars have generated just 47.1 percent of scoring chances at 5-on-5, also the sixth-smallest share in the league.

In seven of the past eight games, the Stars have been out-attempted at 5-on-5. In wins over Montreal (50 against and 25 for) and Washington (58 against and 37 for), the numbers have been lopsided.

(Shot attempts and scoring chances are loose measures of possession time because a team need to possess the puck to attempt shots and generate scoring chances. The higher the percent, the more the team possesses the puck, in theory, and drives the play.)

Wanting a couple back: Stars goaltender Ben Bishop was beat twice to his short side Saturday night in Washington, giving up goals to Niklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov from poor angles.

"Maybe a couple I'd like to have back," Bishop said. "Some pretty good shots slash bad goal, I don't know how you want to look at it. I'll say good shot."

Backstrom's shot beat Bishop over his right shoulder in the second period. Kuznetsov found space above Bishop's left shoulder in the third period as a power play wound down.

"They have the best power play in the league and we did a great job of shutting it down," Bishop said. "Obviously kind of a fluky one at the end there."